How Central Park Was Created Entirely By Design and Not By Nature

Central Park is the most famous city park in the world,

but did you know of its 843 acres, every single tree, shrub,

and flower was by design and not by nature?

I'm Michael Wyetzner.

I've been an architect in New York City for over 35 years,

and today, I'm gonna show you some of the hidden details

that make Central Park the greatest metropolitan park

in the world.

[soft uplifting music]

In the 1840s, the concept

for a large scale park in Manhattan was proposed

by poet William Cullen Bryant

and one of the fathers of American landscape architecture,

Andrew Jackson Downing.

Their dream would come to life in the 1850s

when the city of New York held a design competition

for the Central Park on the island of Manhattan.

Over 30 entries were submitted,

and the ultimate winner was the park as we know it today,

designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted

and architect Calvert Vaux.

Behind me is The Dairy.

This may not be one of the most famous buildings

in the park, but it has a tangible connection to one

of the initial requirements of the design competition,

and is part of what made Vaux

and Olmsted's design so ingenious

and distinct from the other submissions.

This building is in the center of the Children's District,

which was incorporated into the design

after the competition in order

to accommodate younger visitors to the park.

The Dairy was a place for children to have access

to fresh milk, which at the time,

in the late 1800s,

was not something everybody had.

And you can see it has a bit

of a brother's grim fairytale feeling to it.

But there's another part of this building that you can't see

that extends down two stories

to the ground just on the other side of that fence

where it meets one of the transverse roads

that allowed traffic to cut through the park.

A transverse road is basically just a road

that allows traffic to cross through the park,

which is important,

because the park covers 51 city blocks, north to south.

The original design competition required a minimum

of four transverse roads across the park.

Everybody else essentially left them on the surface,

which cut the park into basically five equal pieces.

Vaux and Olmsted's design was the only one

that designed them in such a way

that the traffic would be on a lower level than the rest

of the park, essentially submerging them

so that the immersion in nature

of park guests would not be disturbed.

[uplifting music]

This piece of iron sticking out

of this boulder is not an oversight.

In fact, it's a survey vault

that marks the original street grid of Manhattan.

The original commissioner's plan

of 1811 never included designs

for a large park in the middle of the city,

but the streets that were once here were removed,

and the land was incorporated into the park,

and it was really quite a transformation.

At the time this park was conceived,

the entire city wasn't as densely-populated as it is today,

but there were still settlements in the area

that would become the park, including Seneca Village,

one of the earliest free Black settlements in New York.

Everyone living on what would become park land was relocated

by eminent domain, the controversial government mechanism,

for seizing property where owners are compensated,

but must vacate, and Seneca Village,

tragically, was included in that.

But it wasn't just relocating homes that took place.

Vaux and Olmsted's design

called for a radical departure in the thinking

of what a grand civic garden should be.

They rejected the idea

of highly formal rigid gardens

like those designed exclusively for the wealthy.

Instead, they proposed a naturalistic setting,

filled with meadows, woodlands, gurgling streams,

and surprising vistas.

The resulting work involved shifting

over 5 million cubic yards of soil,

planting over 500,000 trees and shrubs,

and excavating more than seven lakes

and other bodies of water, all done by hand.

In fact, the boulders like this one,

which the bolt is sticking out

of are the only original pieces

of natural landscape in the park,

and even many of these were unearthed, scraped,

and cleaned to appear as they do today.

This is the last remaining survey bolt in Central Park,

and I don't wanna spoil the fun of finding it for you,

so I'll let you search the 843 acres for it.

[uplifting music]

Central Park is a big place

and it's easy to get turned around,

but if you do, here's a tip.

There are more than 1800 lampposts in the park

that tell you where you are

if you know where to look.

At the base of the lamppost,

you can find a set of numbers that indicate

where you are in the park, but it's a bit of a secret code.

The first two numbers represent the nearest cross street

between 59th Street and 110th,

and the last two numbers tell you

which side of the park you're on.

Even numbers mean east and odd numbers mean west.

[uplifting music]

Over my shoulder, you could see the Bethesda Terrace,

at the center of which is the beautiful Bethesda Fountain.

A grand fountain was also one of the original requirements

for the design competition,

and this one satisfies that requirement,

and commemorates the importance

of water in New York City.

Titled Angel of the Waters,

This sculpture was created by sculptor Emma Stebbins,

who was the first woman to receive a commission

for a major public work in New York City.

The statue commemorates the completion

of the Croton Aqueduct in 1842, which brought fresh water

to New York City, which was actually a really big deal,

because before that, cholera,

and yellow fever were a big issue because of unclean water.

And in fact, Bethesda Terrace takes its name

from the Gospel of St. John,

which refers to the healing waters

of Bethesda in Jerusalem.

Although now it is filled

with sculptures depicting historical figures

such as William Shakespeare,

Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott,

Angel of the Waters

was the only sculpture that was created

as part of the original design of the park.

And even though this statue was created by a woman,

all of the statues depicting real people

in the park were only

of men, until the statue of Sojourner Truth,

Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

was created in 2020.

These later statues line possibly

the most recognizable part of the park,

known as The Mall, which has been featured

in countless films and TV shows.

This is one of the most formal design elements of the park,

a grand promenade that leads directly to Bethesda Terrace,

which the designers called the heart of the park.

The city was reluctant to build the terrace at first due

to costs, but Vaux convinced them by saying nature first,

second, and third, architecture after a while.

And basically what that means is nature has been

the priority, but at some point we need some architecture,

and this became the place for it.

The design of the arcade is like the name of a church,

but submerged.

It has this incredible ceiling

with over 15,000 tiles made in England

by the Minton tile company who famously made tiles

for many cathedral floors in Europe.

This arcade is actually the only place in the world

where these tiles are used for ceiling.

Although it is highly ornate

and ingeniously designed, it also remains true

to the naturalistic vision of the park's overall design,

with carvings depicting natural scenes,

as well as symbols of the four seasons.

The act of walking down these steps, through the arcade,

and out to the terrace,

is one of the great architectural experiences

in New York City.

You walk down the Stately Mall,

step down into this dimly-lit underground space.

Basically, you're just walking under a roadway,

and suddenly you're in this church-like,

almost sacred space.

The rows of stone arches, the imported English tile ceiling,

the intricate trompe l'oeil panels,

it all creates an atmosphere of reverence.

And then when you emerge, it opens onto this grand terrace,

with a statue of an angel set against the backdrop

of the lake and the forest in the distance.

[uplifting music]

Over my shoulder is what's known simply as The Lake.

It's actually only four feet deep, but it covers 22 acres.

So in addition to The Lake, there's six other manmade bodies

of water in the park, including the Harlem Meer,

The Locke, The Reservoir, The Pond, and others.

And they were all intended

to have a calming effect, echoing the serenity

of natural bodies of water in the natural landscape.

But of course, none of this is naturally-occurring.

It was all designed and constructed.

Even the beautiful waterfalls

that you see in Central Park are fed by tap water.

You can actually drink them.

The idea to create naturalistic vistas throughout the park

was partly inspired

by the paintings of the Hudson River School.

These paintings were enormous in scale

and depicted awe-inspiring natural scenes.

Some of them are hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

which of course is situated inside the park.

In fact, the original Met Building was designed

by Calvert Vaux, along with Jacob Wrey Mould.

The other notable feature about this lake is the bridge

that crosses it, the bow bridge.

It was originally designed

as a suspension bridge like the Brooklyn Bridge,

but they decided to go with an arched bridge

because they were concerned

that the towers would distract

from the naturalistic setting.

The whole bridge is cast iron with a span of 87 feet.

It's actually the second oldest

cast iron bridge in the United States.

There's over 36 bridges in the park.

Known as arches, most of them are both bridges

and tunnels, which is a very New York thing.

Each one is unique and ornate,

and has its own personality and character.

But even more importantly,

they're also very clearly visible examples

of the way the park is organized

for visitors to navigate it.

There's actually four vertical layers to the park,

the transverse roads, which are submerged below grade,

and three other circulation paths.

The drives, which were intended for horses

and carriages, the bridal paths for horseback riding,

and the footpaths for pedestrian traffic.

These arches, these bridges

and tunnels intertwine vertically

so that these different circulation paths

can cross each other

without creating traffic at the intersections.

The drives paths over the bridal

and footpaths allowing uninterrupted use

of each different circulation path.

It's also a really clever way

to separate these different types

of transit while maintaining a seemingly pastoral landscape.

And so it actually accommodates a lot

of traffic without it feeling like there's a lot of traffic.

Vaux and Olmsted intended the park to be enjoyed

by all the people of the city, working class and wealthy.

But at the time, an unfortunate byproduct

of these vertically layered circulation paths

was that they also separated the classes from one another,

because people of lesser means couldn't afford horses,

let alone carriages.

Thankfully, that is no longer the case,

and the paths are used interchangeably

by everybody from all walks of life.

[uplifting music]

So behind me, you can see Belvedere Castle.

Belvedere basically just means, Beautiful view,

in Italian.

It's built on Vista Rock,

one of the highest points in Central Park.

It was intended as a place to get broad sweeping views

of the park and the surrounding cityscape.

There are many places in the park where you can lose sight

of the buildings that surround you

and feel removed from the city.

But climbing the Tower of Belvedere Castle

brings modern Manhattan back into view

and reminds you that this natural landscape sits

within a great metropolitan city.

The other function of this high vantage point

is that Belvedere Castle serves as a weather station.

So every time you hear, you know the amount of rainfall

or snowfall in Central Park, they are referring

to that spot right behind me.

The castle is made outta Manhattan Schist,

which is the same stone found throughout the park

like the boulder that the survey bolt is driven into,

and it appears to actually grow out

of that rock and become a building.

Which really interesting about this building

is that it's built a three quarter scale,

which makes it appear further away than it actually is,

and gives it this sort of magical fairytale quality.

Originally, it was designed to be two castles,

but the budget was cut,

and Jacob Wrey Mould designed

that wooden pavilion in lieu of the second castle.

Some of the other things you can see from the castle

is The Great Lawn, the Delacorte Theater,

where they performed Shakespeare in the Park,

and Turtle Pond, which actually is home to turtles.

The Great Lawn was actually a reservoir when the park

was first built.

But in 1931, they filled it in

with rubble from the excavation for the foundations

of Rockefeller Center and the 8th Avenue subway.

And now this beautiful green expanse is the site

of many famous concerts

and home to a number of sports fields

and other community activities.

You can also see the ramble

from the Tower of Belvedere castle.

The Ramble is one of the parts of the park

that feels the most like it's always been here,

like it's completely natural and not manmade,

and that you could get lost on a walk in the woods.

And it's the perfect manifestation of the idea

that a soothing walk in nature could happen right

in the middle of New York City.

There's so many amazing things in Central Park

that we just didn't have time to cover.

If you'd like to see a part two on Central Park,

let us know in the comments below.